June 2012: Earth's 4th warmest June; heavy rains in Beijing kill 37
June 2012 was the globe's 4th warmest June on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NASA rated May 2012 the 3rd warmest on record. June 2012 global land temperatures were the warmest on record; this makes three months in a row--April, May, and June--in which record-high monthly land temperature records were set. Global ocean temperatures were the 10th warmest on record. June 2012 was the 328th consecutive month with global temperatures warmer than the 20th century average; the last time global temperatures were below average was February 1985. We've now had three consecutive top-five warmest months on record; April 2012 was the 5th warmest April on record, and May 2012 was the 2nd warmest May on record. The increase in global temperatures relative to average, compared to March 2012 (16th warmest March on record) is due, in part, to warming waters in the Eastern Pacific, where a La Niña event ended in April, and borderline El Niño conditions now exist. Global satellite-measured temperatures in June for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were 4th or 3rd warmest in the 34-year record, according to Remote Sensing Systems and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH). Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during June 2012 was the smallest in the 46-year period of record. Wunderground's weather historian, Christopher C. Burt, has a comprehensive post on the notable weather events of June in his June 2012 Global Weather Extremes Summary. Notably:
- The U.K. suffered through its wettest June since at least 1910, and coolest such since 1991.
- The monsoon season has been especially devastating so far along the banks of the Brahmaputra River in northeast India and Bangladesh. Over 2000 villages have been flooded and at least 190 deaths reported so far. Almost 20 million people in all have been displaced.
- The Korean Peninsula continued to endure its worst drought in at least 105 years.
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for June 2012. In the Northern Hemisphere, most areas experienced much higher-than-average monthly temperatures, including most of North America and Eurasia, and northern Africa. Only northern and western Europe, and the northwestern United States were notably cooler than average. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) .
Arctic sea ice has greatest June loss on record
Arctic sea ice saw its greatest-ever decrease during the month of June, and ice extent averaged over the entire month was the 2nd lowest for June in the 35-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The last three Junes (2010 - 2012) have had the three smallest ice extents for the month, with June 2012 being the 21st consecutive June and the 133rd consecutive month with below-average Arctic sea ice extent. During much of June 2012 and extending into the first half of July, the Arctic Dipole pattern set up. This atmospheric circulation pattern features a surface high pressure system in the Arctic north of Alaska, and a low pressure system on the Eurasian side of the Arctic. This results in winds blowing from south to north over Siberia, pushing warm air into the central Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Dipole pattern occurred in all summer months of 2007 and helped support the record 2007 summer reduction in sea ice extent. The Arctic Dipole pattern has broken down over the past few days, and is expected to be absent through early August. This should slow Arctic sea ice loss, and ice extent may no longer be at record low levels by the first week of August.
Figure 2. Arctic sea ice area in 2012 as of July 22 (yellow line) compared to all the other years since satellite observations began in 1979. Ice area in 2012 during most of June and July has been the lowest on record. The previous record low years were 2007 and 2011. Note that sea ice area (as shown here) and sea ice extent (as measured by the National Snow and Ice Data Center) are not the same thing, but one can use either to quantify sea ice, and both show very similar behavior. Image credit: University of Illinois Cryosphere Today.
Three new billion-dollar weather disasters in June
The globe experienced three new billion-dollar weather disasters in June, bringing the total for the year to nine, said insurance broker Aon Benfield in their June Catastrophe Report. The most expensive disaster in June occurred in China, where heavy rains between the between June 20 - 29 affected northern, central, eastern and southern sections of the country. The rains left at least 50 people dead in 17 separate provinces, and caused damage estimated at CNY17.4 billion (USD2.73 billion). The U.S. suffered two billion-dollar severe weather events in June, bringing the total number of such events to six for the year. The record for most billion-dollar disasters in a year in the U.S. is fourteen (according to NOAA/NCDC) or seventeen (according to Aon Benfield.) The most costly event in June 2012 came across portions of Texas and New Mexico, where severe thunderstorms pelted areas (including the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan region) with golf ball and baseball-sized hail. The Insurance Council of Texas said that more than 100,000 claims were filed and total insured losses in the state would exceed $1 billion, with total losses near $1.75 billion. A separate hail event in Colorado and Wyoming caused more than $700 million in insured losses, and $1.25 billion in total losses.
Figure 3. Weather disasters costing at least half a billion dollars so far in 2012, according to insurance broker Aon Benfield in their June Catastrophe Report.
Heaviest rains in 60 years deluge Beijing, killing 37
China's latest billion-dollar weather disaster is a torrential rainstorm that hit Beijing Saturday night, dumping the the heaviest rains the city has seen in 60 years, according to Associated Press. The resulting flooding killed 37 people and did $1.6 billion in damage.
Figure 4. A Chinese man uses a signboard to signal motorists driving through flooded street following a heavy rain in Beijing Saturday, July 21, 2012. China's government says the heaviest rains to hit Beijing in six decades. The torrential downpour Saturday night left low-lying streets flooded and knocked down trees. (AP Photo)
Quiet in the Atlantic
There are no threat areas to discuss in the Atlantic, and none of the reliable computer models are developing a tropical cyclone over the next seven days.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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Here's the most recent one.
AN EASTERLY WAVE IS INITIALIZED AT 63W AND TO THE SOUTH OF 15N...AND IS RAPIDLY BECOMING DEFINED AS IT CROSSES THE SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN. THE WAVE IS CURRENTLY JUST WEST OF TRINIDAD AND HAS ENTERED IN PHASE WITH A TUTT-INDUCED TROUGH ACROSS THE NORTHEAST ISLANDS. NEVERTHELESS...RIDGE PATTERN DOMINATES MOST OF THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN CARIBBEAN LEADING TO WIDESPREAD AREA WITH A STRONG SUBSIDENCE INVERSION. ALSO...A DRY AIR MASS IS BEING ADVECTED FROM THE NORTHEAST...WHICH IS LIMITING SIGNIFICANTLY EFFECTS OF EASTERLY WAVE AND TUTT-INDUCED TROUGH ON PRECIPITATION OVER THE ISLANDS. BEST MOISTURE AVAILABILITY IS IN PLACE ALONG VENEZUELA AND SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN ISLES...
This is a great link to "favorite" for Caribbean issues because they usually update a few times a day and are real good with the large scale synoptic conditions for this region.
Link
I care if that answers your question and Im sure the people in the islands care..thats why we are here on this site..well at least some of us anyway to track tropical systems..by the way..my african wave looks better than your blob in the GOM..just saying..
Could impact the islands... (dreaming is good)
it's a "freaking" infraction.
Did you read what I said at the end or just go straight to the defensive? I said the point to take home is that there is a potential for a storm. I said who cares about a model showing recurvature 240 hours out. Geez.
you asked "who cares?" and I told you..I wasnt being defensive..I agree with the potential but we can still discuss the fact that it was showing a recurve thats all..
do they use the same size pumps in hong kong as they use in nola???
The "my blob is better than your blob" statement is pretty defensive/childish.
Anyway, out for the day. Have a good day everyone.
Probably due to land friction with the hills/mountains there?
I seriously doubt it.
Vast Defenses Now Shielding New Orleans
Nearly seven years after flood waters from Hurricane Katrina gushed over New Orleans, $14.5 billion worth of civil works designed to block such surges is now in place a 133-mile chain of levees, flood walls, gates and pumps too vast to take in at once, except perhaps from space.
Individual components of the system can be appreciated from a less celestial elevation.
and the "who cares" phrase you used wasnt?..okay..have a good one..
Probably.
Ok, let me spell it out for you again. The "who cares" statement was directed at the recurvature argument of a storm that hasn't even emerged from Africa. Who cares about a model showing it recurve this far in advance. I wasn't saying who cares about the system and that is obvious since I backed that up by saying "the important thing is the potential for a storm." I wasn't trying to show you up, like you tried to do to me in your rebuttal.
what is your personal feeling to what the levees could sustain now...
they can withstand any hurricane or flood mother nature throws at it.
we have succesfully defeated catastrophe
(thats probably not true)
Personal feeling dont mean much, but the Design now says cat 3, A Cat 4 surge event would still overwhelm certain parts of the system.
Gustav's surge was barely contained in 2008, and Ike's brought High water as well 2 weeks later.
Dr. Masters covers that here in his recent Webinar, as well as Tampa, Houston, Miami and New York.
All port Cities are vulnerable from Brownsville to Maine.
Words on NOLA are at 3:55 into the video
no worries..I apologize if you felt I was trying to show you up..
That's yer precious African Wave.
i understand that IKE had a large storm surge, when i went to cameron for rita and ike, ike had a 2 foot higher storm surge than rita..and rita was a stronger cat storm....each storm has it's own personality, too many people concentrate with what cat a storm is classified. i have seen certain slosh models with nola and a slow moving cat 1 storm right west of the miss river can do alot of damage...and throw 24 hrs of heavy rain before landfall and bammm bad news...
While SeaSurfaceTemperatures from Canada thru Greenland past Iceland are warmer than average, the SSTs for the upperNorthSea and the NorwegianSea from FaroeIslands eastward to Norway are cooler than average.
Mix Scotland's cooler land-temperatures with the cooler NorwegianSea&NorthSea over-ocean temperature, and ya get a "pixel"temperature that's cooler than average.
no the Euro shows the first precious wave near the islands and also shows the second precious wave coming off Africa in the last frame..
the first wave is about to come off Africa..I believe..
That's why we now have the Surge Data Separate from it, and also have,The Inland Hurricane Warning.
I've been a big advocate for a better system for many years.
A LARGE cat 3 can do as much if not more damage that a small Cat 5 ,say like Camille was.
Size matters greatly in a Hurricane, just take the time to see K's Max Hurricane wind field, and Tropical Storm Force wind radii...and compare to other Hurricanes.
It will quickly go back negative, however.
Southerner,but to some, that's foreign enough.
that will be vary un likey and wishcasting
you are 100 % correct...how many yrs would you think it would take to teach the general public with major changes with hurricane impacts...i know they have started slowly and will add alittle each yr.
Agreed.
its getting in all the negative now so it can be positive all winter.
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